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Who Is Jesus?: History in Perfect Tense

By Leander Keck.
Fortress. 2001. 207 pp. Pb. $ 21. ISBN 0-8006-3170-6

— Reviewed by Gordon W. G. Raynal, pastor, Inman, S.C., church

Leander Keck, emeritus professor of biblical theology at Yale Divinity School and past president of the Society of Biblical Literature, has joined the ranks of scholars writing about the relationship between understanding Jesus as a figure of history and a figure of theological affirmation. In Who Is Jesus? Keck takes the reader on a tour of the history of this scholarship since the Enlightenment, when interest in the Jesus of history began to flourish.


As the title suggests (the question is “Who is Jesus?” as opposed to “Who was Jesus?”), the author seeks to hold together both the historical and theological tasks and to help the reader see how they intersect and interact in ways that deepen and broaden present understanding. As Keck states, “In short, the question before us concerns the ‘is-ness’ of who Jesus was” (p. 1).

Historical Jesus scholarship is filled with enormous controversy. Keck ventures into this by focusing on four important issues. He writes that he will concentrate “on four facets: that [Jesus] was a Jew, that his mission was energized by his grasp of the kingdom of God, that he was executed without any visible or audible validation from the God he trusted, and that he is the central figure in the moral life of his followers” (p. 9).

As this summary attests, Keck’s study investigates the historical realities of first-century Judaism, a psychological affirmation about Jesus’ motives, a theological affirmation about Jesus’ death and an ethical focus about the continuing experience of Jesus’ followers. Following the introductory chapter the next four chapters investigate each of these issues in detail. So, what core answer does Keck give? He writes, “What he [Jesus] called for and sought to embody, was a kind of life that would reflect God’s reign actualized, and this indeed required changes in the ways villagers related to each other. Animated by the conviction that the definitive actualization of God’s reign was beginning in his mission, he took his beat more from the charter and will of God attested to in Scripture” (p. 61).

In fleshing out this conclusion Keck aligns himself with those who see the center of Jesus’ person, message and actions in the apocalyptic and messianic Scriptures of the Old Testament, as they were alive in the first century. For those familiar with the expanse of writings on the subject, Keck’s views closely align with the view of N.T. Wright.

The current controversies in historical Jesus research stem from varying assessments of a complex weave of data. Issues such as the relationship between wisdom, prophetic and apocalyptic materials in the Scriptures; which literature is primary, secondary, tertiary for historical analysis; and which religious, political, economic and social realities are most important for understanding Jesus are part of these broad debates.

Who Is Jesus? covers a vast amount of data in this relatively brief work and, therefore, I would not recommend it as an introductory work for the complex debates. (Barnes Tatum’s In Quest of Jesus provides an excellent introduction.) For those with at least some background Keck’s book provides a lucid summary of one broadly held position. As challenge and stimulation for deepening understanding in these fascinating debates, I would recommend Who Is Jesus? be read alongside John Dominic Crossan’s Jesus, A Revolutionary Biography

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